Thomas Massie Still Fighting Amended Trumpcare

Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie stated in an interview with The Blaze still plans to vote against the new Healthcare bill even with the new amendments. States can now opt out of certain regulations that would include requirements for insurance companies to base premiums on the health of the individual.

Congressman Massie states “I’m voting against it, if it comes to a vote, because it’s not a real repeal”. He claimed that the amendments made the bill “more conservative”, but that it was still not enough to ensure his vote.

He continued the interview by calling out his colleagues that said they would not vote on the bill because it was too close to being a full repeal and admitting that they like Obamacare.

Fellow libertarian leaning Republican and Freedom Caucus member, Justin Amash, has made no comment on the currently amended healthcare bill, but last month he did call for Paul Ryan to step down if he didn’t take a “new direction.”

This may not mean that Rep. Amash will vote against the bill, as Freedom Caucus Chair Mark Meadows released a statement that said:

“Over the past couple of months, House conservatives have worked tirelessly to improve the American Health Care Act (AHCA) to make it better for the American people. Due to improvements to the AHCA and the addition of Rep. Tom MacArthur’s proposed amendment, the House Freedom Caucus has taken an official position in support of the current proposal.

The MacArthur amendment will grant states the ability to repeal cost driving aspects of Obamacare left in place under the original AHCA. While the revised version still does not fully repeal Obamacare, we are prepared to support it to keep our promise to the American people to lower healthcare costs. We look forward to working with our Senate colleagues to improve the bill. Our work will continue until we fully repeal Obamacare.”

It’s good to see the libertarian members of congress working to eliminate the atrocity that is the Affordable Care Act. Whether they are fully opposing the new bill or see it as a stepping stone to a full repeal, the fight will continue.

Author: Luke Henderson

Since joining the Libertarian Party in 2016 (after discovering Gary Johnson as a disaffected Bernie Sanders supporter), Luke Henderson has been active in the liberty movement through journalism, and political activism.
At the beginning of 2017, Luke had his first piece of writing published by Being Libertarian and quickly became a contributor to the libertarian news site, The Libertarian Vindicator. Through the Vindicator, Luke discovered his passion for addressing critics of the philosophy and bringing together different factions of liberty lovers which compelled him to become an editor for The Libertarian Coalition, a forum dedicated to an open-minded discussion of libertarian ideas from all walks.
After many guest contributions to Being Libertarian, Luke was asked to join the website as a contributor, where he writes his column Scoring For Liberty, which discusses sports, politics, and economics from a libertarian lens, and his Educator series that seeks to strengthen libertarian’s understanding of educational techniques and policy to better arguments against public education.
Luke is one of the District 1 Executive Committeemen for the Missouri Libertarian party, and the founder of the Missouri Chapter of the Libertarian Positivity Caucus. Outside of politics, Luke is a paraprofessional for the Special School District of St. Louis, a musician, composer, and a loving husband and father.
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